FIG. 1 is a drawing of a prior art video monitoring and detection system 100. System 100 includes a traditional video camera 102, coupled to a display 104 and an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 106. The A/D converter 106 is also coupled to a detection processing node 108. The traditional video camera 102 includes a front end stage 110 coupled to a visualization based dynamic range compression module 120, which is coupled to an 8 bit digital-to-analog (D/A) converter 124. The D/A 124 is coupled to an analog output interface 128 which outputs an analog video feed signal.
The front end stage 110 includes a lens 112, a sensor 114, and a 16 bit digital output interface 116. Light corresponding to an image is received via lens 112 and detected by sensor 114, e.g., obtaining a plurality of pixel values each pixel value being represented by 16 bits. Digital output interface 116 outputs signal 118 conveying 16 bit/unit pixel values to the visualization based dynamic range compression module 120. Module 120 performs compression operations on the received 16 bit pixel values and outputs signal 122 carrying 8 bit pixel values to the input of the 8 bit D/A converter 124. The D/A converter 124 converts received digital signals to an analog signal 126 which is input to the analog output interface 128. Analog output interface 128 outputs an analog video feed signal 130 which is input to both the display 104 and an 8 bit A/D converter 106.
Display 104, e.g., a traditional monitor with analog input, displays a video image represented by the analog feed signal 130. The A/D converter 106 converts the analog video feed signal 130 to 8 bit digital representations, which are input via signal 107 to detection processing node 108. Detection processing node 108 evaluates a plurality of 8 bit representation digital signals to perform detection operations, e.g., detecting an intruder. It should be noted that the detection processing node 108 is receiving as input 8 bit representations corresponding to pixel values and that the received 8 bit representations are derived from signals that have been subjected to visualization based dynamic range compression. The visualization based dynamic range compression is advantageous from the perspective of a human viewer watching display 104; however, such visualization based compression is detrimental to the detection processing node 108 which doesn't benefit from human visualization based image data adjustments. The detection processing node 108 operates using lower resolution data than the data output from the digital output interface 116 of the front end stage 110. In addition, signals 107, which are input the detection processing node 108 have been subjected to a D/A 124 stage and A/D 106 stage, both which degrade signal quality.
In view of the above description, there is a need for improved methods and apparatus related to video monitoring and detection. It would be beneficial if some methods and apparatus separated at least some human visualization directed processing from at least some detection/tracking directed processing. Methods and apparatus that direct at least some sensor output signals conveying the same size data units to both an input of a visual processing path and an input of a detection/tracking processing path would also be beneficial. Methods and apparatus that utilize sensor output signals, which have not been subjected to visualization based compression, for detection and tracking operations would also be advantageous.